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In 2010, I, along with my colleague, Denise Wakeman, ran a survey to help define what people most wanted to know about social media. We received more than 300 responses. (You can get the results of the survey here: Get the Social Media Use Survey Results)
The results were interesting, and one of the biggest complaints was related to how much time social media takes. People were feeling like they were spending a lot of time being social, but not necessarily seeing huge results. The second issue that stood out was that people were wondering how to best monetize their social media efforts.
When business owners are spending a lot of time, but not seeing any results as far as monetization, this told me that there was some kind of disconnect going on.
And that got me thinking.
What appears to be happening is that people are investing lots of time on the social networks, but not enough time using social media as a content sharing and distribution mechanism.
This means, they are using Facebook and Twitter to engage with their audience, but not using the 10 other kinds of social sites to efficiently share and syndicate their content.
What people are asking for, I think, is a system that enables them to use social media fully and efficiently, with better results.
So in the interest of saving you some time and effort from having to create your system yourself, let me offer these five tips for increasing your social media efficiency.
1. Schedule regular time for social media.
I’m fond of saying that social media is a time suck. This means that, without boundaries on your time, chatting on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter can take up your entire day. This will have negative impact on your business.
So, instead, schedule time to attend to social media each day, and resist the urge to network all day long, especially if you don’t have a clear and definite business outcome in mind.
I tend to schedule an hour in the morning to connect with my social networks, and I have one of my assistants handle all the daily friending back, following back, processes, reducing my time commitment and letting me focus on conversations and connections.
2. Let technology do the heavy lifting.
You can be more social media efficient if you use technology to help you.
One example would be to set up content distribution and syndication processes. Another way is to use software programs to help streamline your efforts. I like and use Tweetdeck, for example, which lets me monitor Twitter, Facebook, and now, recently, LinkedIn. No matter what you need, there is probably a piece of software that can help you do it faster or better.
3. Reduce the noise.
There are just three main things you need to focus on in social media.
The first is gaining attention. The second is making connections. And the third is being consistent.
You can do this without any technology at all. It’s fine to be interested in new gadgets and new advances in technology (and I confess, I’m a girl geek at times)- but don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed and forget the basics of marketing. You must be noticed, make connections, and show up regularly.
4. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose.
The better you are at repurposing your content, the easier your social media marketing will be. Aim to get at least 10 uses out of every blog post, every interview, every video you make. Stay in touch with what your target audience needs, and provide it for them faster, and easier, and quicker than anyone else.
Seek to create dialogues and conversations around your content.
You’ll learn what people most want to know, and you’ll always have good ideas for new content to create.
5. Tie your social media efforts to your business goals and optimize for them.
What this means is that you need to have an idea of what you want social media to DO for you.
Do you want to become the household name in XYZ industry? Do you want to get 10000 people on your email database? Do you want to be picked up by major media as an authority or expert? Like any other business arena, you have to know what you want to achieve and lay out a strategy to achieve it.
And then you need to do the work.
If you’re spending a lot of time in social media, but not feeling like you’re getting enough return, I would suggest that maybe you want to step back and reassess your goals. Don’t take part in social media waiting to see what will happen. Have an idea of what you want to create, and use the social media tools to create it. The clearer your objectives, the faster you’ll reach them, helping balance out your time and return on investment.
Don’t miss the forest for the trees
Social networking is not the only facet of social media you should be paying attention to. Use the social media sites to build your platform, drive your brand, and send visitors to your website. These kinds of results are trackable and monetizable. And just good business.
How do you stay efficient with social media? Please share your thoughts here.
If you’d like access my 21 lesson e-course on building influence in social media, get that here: Build Influence eCourse
Rachna Jain is the amazingly energetic entrepreneur driving
Social Media Marketing Strategies,
where you will find in-depth discussion of the latest technology
and techniques in social media marketing.
Rachna, this is a great post.
I too was victim to this issue of spending a ton of time on Social Media – I now started scheduling times through out my day where I would go check if there are things that need my attention..
I’m gonna take your advice for re-purposing my content 10X.. I’m sure that’ll have a positive impact on my business..
talk soon
Hector
Hector Cuevas´s last post ..8 Simple Ways To Increase Blog Traffic For Free Cheat Sheet
Hector,
Thank you so much for your kind comments and for taking the time to share them. Scheduling yourself well is a great strategy for managing social media, and I know that repurposing will help you get a lot more value out of everything you create!
:)
Rachna
Hi,
That was an excellent tips. Social media works as great medium for growth and development for marketing. The task of building connection to the target market is now made easy and a lot more efficient. Thanks.
Jenifer´s last post ..Rapid Weight Loss
Jenifer,
Absolutely! Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts.
:)
Rachna
This is really timely, as I just wrote a whole chapter on repurposing. Which, like everything else, is easier said than done.
Dave Doolin´s last post ..Building from Nothing- not Building from 5-000
Dave,
Agreed, absolutely! But I know you’ll get it done anyway. :)
Rachna
I love tweeting and yes it can take up a lot of time. However as I am relatively new to blogging; through tweets I am visiting blogs and reading articles that are teaching me valuable lessons for my blog. I try and limit my time, so I will go on in the morning and skim my tweets. I already know some of the sites I will visit each day cos of the quality of their content. Then I will go on again and check in the afternoon and then again late evening. Cos I live in Western Australia I feel this is necessary so I catch US and UK when they are awake and check on what they have posted while I am sleeping.
Not focused on Facebook yet as seem to be getting better responses from Twitter with people RT my posts and sending quality articles via their sites for me too.
Patricia Perth Australia
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Patricia,
Great work at creating a plan and sticking to it. And, also, it’s great to start slowly, as you are, and build up from there. Keep up the great progress, and thanks for taking the time to comment!
:)
Rachna
Patricia, the mix is different for everyone, there is no One True Path. This is what makes it so hard, and so much fun.
Dave Doolin´s last post ..Building from Nothing- not Building from 5-000
And never forget that 20% of the work will ALWAYS get you 80% of the result. Do not waste all your time :)
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Jake,
Very true!
:)
Rachna
Great article. Yes, it is really easy to get carried away with all the social media. I am trying to focus – but it isn’t easy.
Marina,
It isn’t easy, that’s for sure, but it gets easier with practice.
:)
Rachna
I just started this whole social media thing and it has incredibly helped my business. I could get totally lost all day in reading everyone’s blogs that are full of great advice! Just like Patricia, Twitter works best to gain the most info in the shortest amount of time. I will read 3 blogs early in the morning and evening. Zoom in on the topics or lessons that will help me. I try to post a blog at least twice a month. And then I have to get to work!
Melinda,
Sounds like a great strategy! I am always amazed at how much I can gain if I work with focus in a short amount of time. Thanks for commenting!
:)
Rachna
I think we all agree that we can sometimes get carried away on social media marketing and forget about how much time we have spent on it. I guess your idea of scheduling this task is a definite way of optimizing other SEO tasks. Thanks!
Jay,
It definitely is a way of optimizing all we have to do each day. Thanks for your thoughts!
:)
Rachna
I agree that it will take time to socialize with other people. Getting along with them is not easy. Sometimes, it will take time to talk with them. (getting to know each other).
In SEO, I think in a short of period of time you can finish everything.
Lyan,
Yes, it takes time and energy to meet and connect with other people. Thanks for your comments!
:)
Rachna
Using some kind of software to automate social media marketing can solve some of our problems when we have a stockpile of things to do. I use tweetdeck too, its very handy when you want see your twitter network activity all in one window.
Thanks for the tips :)
I used to use software like that paul lol
Until my computer blew up and then I lost all of the download files
Chris@Gold Miners´s last post ..Gold Miners Investors Change Their Mindset
My problem has been spending hardly any time on developing the social media side of things. I need to ramp things up a bit. 10 uses out of every blog post, I have a long, long way to go but I can see the upside…
10 uses is pretty tough. I’ve started working out a system far that. It’s going slow.
Dave Doolin´s last post ..Repurpose your blog posts – BPE 073 Metholz has arrived
thank you for your sharing! it is a great article, very interesting and useful
[Lacy, get a little more personal, I'll pass the link along as well. -dave d]
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